


Pods

by pleadingforclarity



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-19 01:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11302818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleadingforclarity/pseuds/pleadingforclarity
Summary: Jemma shuts herself in the pod after Coulson and Daisy are taken. Fitz doesn't leave her alone for long.





	Pods

Jemma wished she could slam a door right about now. But everything on this plane was automated, especially on the pods. 'Calibrated to the utmost specificity' and all.

She held her breath as she hastily swiped through the wall panel, turning off the camera and recording systems, dimming the windows, cancelling all sound-sharing with the outside. She was buying herself time. These days, whenever one of them needed to be alone, they went to the pod. It was an unspoken thing. The 'bunks' had been transformed into workspaces and the makeshift 'lab' housed the Framework tech, so nobody went in there very often. So someone would be coming around eventually. Probably May. Or Yoyo.

She hoped for Fitz.

Once she was truly in, once she was alone, the ground felt solid and the air wasn’t so heavy, she let herself go. She sobbed for the first time since the day they’d gotten Mack back, the day Robbie Reyes had appeared, the day Fitz had let her embrace him in the same pod.

She laughed to herself.  _These bloody pods. I have a knack for breaking down in them, don't I?_

Her breaths were uneven and shaky as she stood in the tiny room, clenching and unclenching her fists and pressing her lips together to try and stop them from quivering. She spoke to herself, remembering how she had done the same in that bathroom in Hydra, remembering Bobbi’s intimidating glare, remembering again that she and Hunter were gone too and her voice failing as she breathed, “They’re going to be fine. They’re going to be _fine_. We’re _all_ going to be—“

A knock on the door. Their knock. Fuck. She hadn't actually thought that he would. 

But she desperately wanted him too.  

She didn't even bother unlocking the doors. He'd built these pods with her. He knew how to override the system, but she knew how to override his hacks. She waited for him to realize she wanted him there, waited for him to figure it out. _Come on, Fitz. Come on._

Jemma sat on the edge of the bed, the same place he had sat that day, sucked in a shaky breath and wiped her palm along her cheekbones to dry them.

She heard the door woosh but didn’t dare turn to face him. The fact that he was _there_ was enough for her. If he just walked away, she could live with that alone. But then she felt him sit on the bed and his hand was on her shoulder, steadying her, and she couldn’t help it anymore.  

“Oh, Jemma,” and that was it, she was in his arms, crying into his shoulder, his one hand wrapped tightly around her back and the other resting on her face, his thumb stroking her cheek. He held her closer to him than he had before, like he was afraid of letting her go. She was afraid he would. 

They stayed there for a while, not speaking, swaying, until her breathing evened out. Jemma looked up at him, her hands finding the sides of his face and his finding hers. They held each other, both knowing the other wasn’t ready for anything more, both accepting that.

“D’you want to talk about it?” he whispered. She could feel his breath on her face. It reminded her of other times they'd had in this position. Different times. Past times. When everything had been okay. 

She inhaled deeply, pretending to brush it off and utterly failing. “You know me, I’m just worried, that’s all.”

He looked at her knowingly. _Yeah, right, Jemma. Nice try. He can read you like a book._

“I just… Daisy and Coulson. With them gone, all we have from the Bus is May. And while I know it’s irrational and that we still have Mack and Yoyo and everyone else behind us and

it’s only been a few days—“

Fitz nodded. “I know,” _He knows_. 

“I know you know. But how are we supposed to do anything about it when we don’t even have a _lab_?“ Her voice broke even as she was willing it not to.

He sighed. “We’re doing the best we can.”

“The best we can isn’t enough, evidently,” she finished, shaking her head, her forehead crinkling as her brow furrowed.  

He moved back, letting his palms trace her neck, to her shoulders, her arms, as he spoke. “We have theories. Reasons. I mean, we know it wasn’t an accident that—”

She stopped him, her voice raising. “How is that even _speculation_ , that the reason those _specific_ people were taken, when they had all of us— what makes you think it was an _accident_?” She felt her anxiety, like a tiny rock at the bottom of her torso, growing wider and wider. 

“Jem—”

She couldn't stop now. She let go of him, squeezing her hands together until they were pale and blotchy. “Everything, all of this, has been going on for _ages_. Since Daisy was shot by Quinn. They found her, looked at her blood, then—“

“Jemma—“ 

“Fitz, the GH325, I gave it to her. I didn’t know what it _was_ , and I _gave_ it to her!” _It's my fault It's my fault_

“You saved her.” He said, looking down at her hands and then quickly covering them with his.

She scoffed. “Well, obviously, _that_ didn’t go very well, with her and Coulson god knows where— and May, oh my _god_ , _May_ , she’s—“

“May has gone through worse than losing Coulson.” 

“She’s already gone through losing Coulson! She’s going through this all over again!”

“Jemma,” he breathed, looking at her with concern. 

“I can’t lose them again!”  _I can't lose them I can't lose them they're everything to me-_

“Jemma—“ 

“We can’t afford to lose them!" _If they die If they die It'll be my fau_  "Oh my god, we can’t—“

“Jemma!” he repeated firmly, bringing her back to reality. He intertwined his fingers in hers and she breathed, staring into his eyes. “Coulson has Daisy. The two of them, together, they're a team. They always find a way.”

She laughed sardonically. “That sounds quite familiar, don’t you think? Hits _really_ close to home. And now—“

“We’re finding a way. Right now. That’s what we’re doing.” 

She stopped. What she was doing, panicking, like this, it wasn't solving anything. He knew it. She moved closer to him, looking down at their hands, all bunched together. 

His voice was soft when he said, “Remember when Coulson was kidnapped?”

She glanced up at him quizzically. 

“By Raina. And Quinn. With Deathlock?”

She smiled, exhaling through her nose. “Those are two names I haven’t heard in a while.”

“Exactly. Because we found him. And we got over it. If we could do it then, we can do it now.”

She nodded as he let go of her hands to cradle her face. 

She was the first who spoke. “Do you ever feel like was lifetimes ago? The Bus?”

“All the time. I’m a different person now.” 

_She was, too._

He continued. “Coulson’s survived far too long to be gone now.”

“I know.”

“And Daisy?" He locked eyes with her. "She'll be fine.”

She sighed. “I know. I hope.”

“She’s your rock," he remarked.

She shook her head. “You’re my rock. She’s my rock. I guess I can’t seem to function without both of you, safe, with me. And, well, she’s been keeping a lot to herself these days.”

“When we get her back, tell her that. Make her talk.”

“She used to talk all the time.”

“We’re different people now.”

“I tend to forget that.”

Another pause.  _What the hell. Might as well go for it, Jemma._

“We should talk, too.”

He paused, looked down, and then looked up again.

“We should. Maybe later. When we have time.”

She laughed softly. “Oh, Fitz. Since when have we had time?”

“I’m going to make time. When we get them back, I think I’m gonna take some time off.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

He smiled. “Maybe we could catch the same plane out of here.”

_Two could play this game._ “Maybe crash at the same place, too.” She replied. 

“Maybe. If you want.” 

“I do.” _I do Fitz I do I do please know that Please know._

“Me too.”

They smiled at each other on that bed in the pod, breathing at the same pace, just.., being. For the first time in a long time, Jemma felt like everything was going to be okay. 

It was like Fitz read her mind. “We’re going to be fine, you know that, right?”

“Who do you mean?” she asked. 'We' meant a lot of things for them. The world, their team... _them_.

“All of us. And... _us_ , too.”

“Promise me?”

He smiled. “I already have.”

**Author's Note:**

> for the angst vs. fluff contest by fitzsimmonsforlife on tumblr!
> 
> (this is also my first fic on ao3 so yay for that!)
> 
> thanks for reading, it means a lot :)


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